A multimedia system transmitting, for example, video, audio, and controls may enter a standby mode, enabling limited performance, in order to reduced power consumption. In some cases, limited performance refers to transmitting only a subset of the data types that are transmitted in the non-standby mode. For example, a multimedia source in standby mode may still transmit and receive system control data that enable it to read the properties of a sink device, that is also in standby mode, to which it is connected. In other words, there is no need to turn on the source and/or sink devices in order to read their properties.
Current video, audio, or multimedia solutions transmit some or all of their standby and/or low power data types over dedicated wires. For example, a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI™) includes dedicated wires for DDC, HPD, and CEC controls. DisplayPort™ includes two wires for transmitting the auxiliary data. The above solutions implement the standby mode by turning off the transceiver(s) that are not required for transmitting the data types that are supported by the standby mode. For example, in HDMI, only the transceivers that are physically connected to the wires used for transmitting the standby mode data types are operated in standby mode. In other words, standard HDMI systems include dedicated control wires that are connected to dedicated modems, and only these modems operate in standby mode. Moreover, the standby mode bandwidth is much smaller than the regular bandwidth, and allocating dedicated wires for the standby mode increases the total number of required wires because the standby wires are not used for significantly increasing the bandwidth of the regular mode of operation.